Doge is a Venetian word that descends from the Latin dux (as does the English duke and the standard Italian duce and duca), meaning "leader", especially in a military context. The title of Doge was used for the elected chief of state in a number of Italian "crowned republics". The two best known such republics were Venice (where he was called a Doxe) and Genoa (where he was called a Duxe ), which rivaled each other, and the other regional great powers, by building their historical city-states into maritime, commercial, and territorial mini-empires.